


The Other Side

by Ilthit



Series: Trope-Bingo: Troped [2]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Daddy Issues, Dysfunctional Family, Found Family, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, Religious Conflict, Trope Bingo Round 1, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 22:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilthit/pseuds/Ilthit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Troy's father pays a visit to Apartment 303 and comes to conclusions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> For Trope Bingo and the trope "a kiss to save the day". It concerns Jehovah's Witnesses' organization, which I'm nervous to be ficcing about, and it's very id and I'm sorry.
> 
> Whether the pairing is "canon" for this story is open to debate.

  
_Re: Rounds this weekend_

_Carolina Temple Barnes <carolina-in-good-faith@yahoo.com> Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 6:31 PM_  
 _To: Mathias Barnes <mathias.barnes@milestoneroadworks.com>_

_Mathias, Troy has NOT been witnessing with me for nearly a year now. I thought he was going door to door with you!!_

_I called Elder Song and he hasn't seen him at Kingdom Hall in months. We're now seriously concerned that he's fading. Please check in on him. I have a convention to prepare for, but we’ll talk next week._

_Still no love,_

_Carolina_

-

Mathias Barnes double-checked the address, paid the driver and stepped out onto the cracked sidewalk. The red brick building looked much like the rest of the neighborhood: rundown factory housing that had seen better decades. The garbage cans clustered behind a low iron fence by the entrance had missing lids and broken bags, scattering banana peels and wrappers on the concrete.

He had known his son didn't have a lot of money, because Mathias didn't give him any money. Troy had made his own decision to move out of his room, just like he'd made the decision to play football instead of focusing on his studies and getting into a real university. Mathias had paid half of his tuition, Carolina the other, and they'd agreed to reassess this if Troy still didn't have a degree by the end of his fourth year.

Mathias lit a electronic cigarette and reminded himself once more that he had always been a good father. It had been a rough couple of years for Mathias, too.

Women were always the damn problem. If it wasn't for all of Carolina's screeching he probably wouldn't have strayed from the path all those years ago, and if Tracy had been a more giving soul, he wouldn't have had to put his own mother in a nursing home. All he had now was what semblance of normalcy he could scrape together; that, and the Truth.

And where had Troy been through all this? What did his son do, just when the last thing Mathias wanted was more chaos in his life? Switched to a vocational school. All college graduates in the family, and his son had decided to be some kind of a glorified plumber.

You couldn't blame Mathias for not having had a real talk about school with Troy before now. He'd given him a piece of his mind over the phone, and the boy's explanations hadn't made any damn sense then. It was all he'd had time for before getting swallowed up by work and women. That email had been his wake-up call.

He sighed and pocketed his e-smoke. The door was propped open with a brick, so he went in.

Three flights up, Mathias found himself face to face with a young couple in the doorway of his son’s apartment: a skinny fellow in a cardigan and a pretty young white woman. "Excuse me. I might have the wrong door number. I'm looking for Troy Barnes?"

"No, you're in the right place," said the man. "You must be Mr Barnes. I'm Abed Nadir."

"Call me Mathias." Mathias shakes his hand, and then hers.

"Annie Edison."

Mathias ran the options through in his head and settled on the least offensive. "You kept your own name?"

"Oh, we're not--" She giggled and twirled a finger in her hair, and Mathias caught the glint of a Star of David around her neck. Oh indeed. "We're Troy's roommates. Come on in. He should be home any minute."

The apartment had a surprisingly spacious living room, albeit one that had to double as a dining room with no space left over for a sofa, since it was crowded on one side by a tent made out of bedsheets.

"Would you like some coffee, tea, cupcake pies? The pies are from yesterday, but there are fresh rolls of bread."

"And a fruit bowl," said Annie Edison, pointing proudly at a centerpiece bowl of apples, grapes and bananas.

"I wouldn't mind some coffee, actually. Thank you." Mathias tried to keep his eye off the tent, but it wasn't easy. He looked over the meticulously arranged DVD shelf and the colorful throw pillows over the two worn-out armchairs by the TV (only two?) to the framed posters of something called Inspector Spacetime. He had only just started to wonder about the lack of sports trophies when his eye hit the first of the framed photographs.

"It's just regular coffee, but we have milk, cream and soy milk."

The first sign of his son in the apartment was a picture of him with one arm thrown around Abed Nadir. The next was of him with Annie and Abed, all three of them covered in orange paint. Mathias’ eye traveled from one photo to another. Troy in a toga. Troy in white overalls. Troy at what looked like a club. Troy in a... Christmas... sweater. Troy smiling with a piece of birthday cake.

Mathias shifted his gaze back to the one in the club. He could see at least two men in the background dancing together, wearing very tight shorts.

He whirled around. "What's going on here? What is this?"

"...Folgers Classic Roast?" Abed Nadir held up a cup. "We've got sugar or Splenda."

"Where's my son?"

"He just stepped out for groceries. We didn't expect you yet." Annie gestured at the dining table. "Please, have a seat."

Mathias reminded himself that he was a well-mannered gentleman, just like his mama had taught him, and accepted the cup with his thanks. The odd young people sat down with him.

Abed, huh? Muslim? A Muslim and a Jewish girl. "Looks like I got here just in time," Mathias muttered.

"You're a little early."

"Do you two also go to that AC repair school?"

"I'm in Forensics now and Abed is majoring in Film."

"Okay, I have to ask. What's with the tent?"

"It's a blanket fort."

"Oh." They... didn't look like they thought any further explanation was necessary. For a blanket fort. In an apartment for three young adults. "Do you have nieces and nephews staying over a lot, or...?”

“No?”

A horrible thought struck Mathias. “Troy doesn't sleep in there, does he?"

"Troy? No, not since he moved into the Dreamatorium."

"The what?"

Abed pointed to a doorway down the hall. Mathias took another sharp look around the apartment. Unless he was mistaken, that was one of only two bedrooms.

This was no longer funny. Here was a pretty girl in a very tight sweater and a weird lanky guy who, judging by the photos, went everywhere and did everything with Mathias’s son, and at least two of the three had to be sharing a room. 

Just then the key turned in the lock. The door was pushed open and Troy Barnes walked in hugging a paper bag of groceries. His smile faded when he saw Mathias.

He was wearing a tan jacket over a long-sleeved T-shirt. He seemed taller and his face was leaner than Mathias remembered. Mathias struggled to replace the image of the tiny Hercules he remembered with this young hipster, or whatever the kids were calling them these days. Had it really been so long since he'd had a good look at his son?

"Hi, Dad. I thought you weren't coming until this afternoon? We would have… cleaned."

"I know. I showed up early because I wanted to see how you really lived. And I've seen plenty." Mathias pushed himself off the table. "Maybe we should take this somewhere else? A coffee shop on the corner? Or to Kingdom Hall? I hear it's been a while since you've attended."

Troy took a deep breath and walked up to Mathias. He could see what was coming before Troy even opened his mouth. It may have been a while, but Mathias could still read that guilty shuffle. In a moment, Troy would be ready to face the music, steady in that moment of calm dissociation before the switch came down. Troy was about to defy him. Mathias wasn’t about to let him.

"Before you say anything, I want you to know that I will not hide the truth from the elders. If you say you don't want to be a part of this family anymore, or in this faith, then I will make sure that wish is granted, do you understand? Nobody is going to fight to keep you."

"Um, okay. I understand." Troy looked around at his friends. "Did you guys--?"

"We didn't say anything."

"Normal Man and Ordinario."

Mathias grabbed Troy's shoulders and forced the boy — young man — to face him. "You can come home anytime, you know that, right? We don't ever have to mention what happened in college, or with your friends here. I won't even ask about the bedrooms. Just come home, come to Bible study. Your mama misses you too."

Troy's eyes went cool. He was disappearing into the calm. "Is that old mama or new mama?"

"Both." Mathias reconsidered and settled on the truth. "Old mama. Look, we all make mistakes. That's why I'm willing to forgive yours."

Troy’s face twitched. He'd always been a crybaby when push came to shove. Oh Lord, Mathias should have known a long time ago. You didn't need those kinds of abs to play football. Mathias’ whole mind was wincing away from his son, but he was a good man and a father and he had a duty to fulfill here. He squeezed Troy's shoulders harder. "It's the guy, isn't it? You're sleeping with this guy?"

Troy's eyes flew wide.

"Troy, I will forgive you even for that. God will, too, if you repent. All right? It's not entirely your fault. I should never have sent you to a secular college, exposed you to... whatever they are. Come home, where your family can take care of you."

"Okay," said Troy.

There was a kind of a gasp-squeak behind Mathias, but he could already feel the knot in his chest unwinding. He released his son and glanced at the Jew and the Muslim clinging to each other by the table. Mathias smiled gently at them. Always be gracious in victory.

"We might have to drive for a while if you want a coffee shop where your pants don't stick to the seat. Then we'll talk,” said Troy. “And then I'll come back home to my family right here.”

“What did you say?”

“Abed, babe?” Troy said loudly. “Could you take the groceries?"

"Sure." Abed Nadir walked up, kissed Mathias Barnes's son on the lips with the ease of long use, picked up the groceries and took them into the kitchen.

It was true, then. Mathias had hoped he'd still be proven wrong, but it had to be true, or else these two had to be communicating telepathically. Troy hadn’t winced, hadn't pulled back, or done any of the things a real man would have. It couldn't be just a lie to piss Mathias off.

Troy had gone over to the other side.

"Don't bother," said Mathias through his teeth. He'd almost forgotten what humiliation tasted like; it had been a whole four hours since he'd last talked to Tracy. "Elder Song will be in touch."

He almost walked out without looking back. Goodness knew the boy didn't deserve any better. He turned back anyway when he reached the doorway. Troy was swaddled in an embrace between the people he'd apparently chosen over God, the Society and his own family. His expression twisted Mathias' insides. His brave little boy had become a stony-faced stranger.

Mathias took his last look, and walked out.

-

_Re: Re: Rounds this weekend_

_Carolina,_

_You were right to be concerned. He's gone. They got to him._

_Come to dinner next Tuesday? Just you, me and Tracy._

_Always love,_  
 _Mathias_

 


End file.
